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McIlroy with the Claret Jug last week. Owen Humphreys
rory slam

McIlroy aims to build on Open success and complete career slam at Augusta next year

The pre-Masters hype starts early these days.

RORY MCILROY WANTS to build on his Open Championship success by securing a fourth career major at the PGA Championship.

The Northern Irishman became just the third man in the history of golf to claim three major titles by the age of 25 and now just needs to win the Masters to complete a career Grand Slam.

McIlroy is certain he will wrap up more major triumphs and wants to leave Valhalla, the course that will host the PGA Championship at the start of next month, with his name engraved onto another famous trophy once again.

“All I’ve ever said since 2011 [his first major success] is that if I get to two I’ll try to get to three, if I get to three, I’ll try to get to four and so on,” he told The Daily Telegraph. ”What has changed is that now I’ll say ‘when’ I get to four. Because I believe I will.

“And I want to get there as quick as possible and that’s why my mind’s zeroing in on the US PGA. It would be nice to go for the career Grand Slam at the Masters going for the fifth major instead of the fourth.”

Though McIlroy is keen not to get too far ahead of himself, the 25-year-old cannot help but be excited about the prospect of going for the Grand Slam at Augusta next April.

“Augusta next year will be hyped up and so it should be,” he added. “What, only five players have done the career Grand Slam in history? That’s an immense thing to aim for and I still can’t believe I’ll be going in at 25 with a chance.”

Should McIlroy achieve the feat he has no intention of stopping there and he earmarked overhauling Nick Faldo’s record as the European with the most major victories, the Englishman having won six.

“For me it’ll always be all about the majors,” McIlroy continued. ”In the Tiger [Woods] era, their importance has become massive.

“They’re the storyline, they’re the narrative, ‘how many majors have you won?’ not ‘how many tournaments have you won?’.

“It’s what defines you and the great thing about golf is that there are always historic marks to chase. After the career Grand Slam it’ll be Faldo’s modern European mark of six.”

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